Computing device



.wf CROSS REFERENCE,

2 G. NEUHAUS 2,251,155

/ COMPUTING DEVICE Original Filed Feb. 23, 1957 2 Sheets-$heet 1 1 FF/ar) m a '3 l x Q lulxlnulnulnninll SEARCH ROOM.

e. NEUHAUS COMPUTING DEVICE Origina} Filed Feb.- 23, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet2 Fig.4

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Patented July 29, 1941 COIVIPUTING DEVICE Gustav Neuhaus,Essen-Stadtwald, Germany, as-

signor t Askania-Wcrke A. G., a corporation of Germany Originalapplication February 23, 1937, Serial No.

K 3 Claims.

tion which follows with the accompanying drawings showing embodiments ofthis invention for illustrative purposes. It is to be understoodhowever,that the description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, the scopeof this invention being defined in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan View of a friction gear, more particularly foranalysing accelerated motions.-

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the center part of the disk of thegear shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross section of a shaft coupling of the gear mechanism ofFig. l, the section being taken on line 2-2.

Fig. i is a diagrammatic illustration of the principle underlying theoperation of the invention.

A disk l9 (Figs. 1 and 2) supported in bearings H by a table i2 isrotatable by suitable means, such as a synchronous or variable speedmotor, depending on the particular purpose for which the friction gearis to be used, as will be hereinafter explained. For connection with themotor, not shown in these drawings, a gear 13 is shown as secured to thehub of the disk.

Two friction wheels Hi and i5 are arranged to be in contact with thedriving surface of the disk I 0 to be driven thereby. It appears thatthe triotion wheels arranged to engage the disk on opposite sides of adisk diameter will rotate in opposite direction. Means for transmittingthe differential rotary motion of the friction Wheels are shown in theform of a differential gear train, comprising bevel-gear l6 and llsecured to, or integral with, the friction wheels l4 and i5, and afurther bevel-gear l8 rotatable on the angled end 19 of a shaft 25.

Divided and this application March 2, 1938, Serial No. 193,593.

In Germany May ably V-shaped tracks 2'! and 28 of the outer frame. Theouter frame, in turn, has rollers 29, 39, 3|, and 32 running in track 33and 34 which at right angles to the first named tracks are supported atpoints 35, 36, 31, and 38 fixed relatively to the axis of rotation ofthe disk iii.

For connection of the shaft with a second shaft 39 rotatable in a fixedbearing 40 a shaft coupling is provided permitting axial and lateralmovements of the two shafts relatively to each other. The shaftcoupling, a cross section of which is shown in Fig. 3, is shown ascomprising a hollow cylinder 4! secured to one shaft and having twopreferably V-shaped longitudinal recesses t2 and A8 at the inside. Anintermediate shaft M is provided with similar recesses and 48 andconnected to the cylinder by balls ll and i8 guided in a cage 59. Theother end of the intermediate shaft 54 may be connected in a similar wayto a hollow cylinder 59 secured to the shaft 29.

The operation of the device, so far described, is

as follows:

Assuming the disk be driven at a uniform speed, it is clear that theshaft 29 will be rotated at a rate which is proportional to the axialdisplacement of the friction wheels from the center of the The frictionwheels are mounted for disp'ace- The support is shown as comprising awheel bearing member or inner frame 2! and an outer memher or frame 22.The inner frame 2| i provided with rollers 23, 24, 25, and running inprefer-- disk. of the shaft 26 will be zero. If the friction wheels aredisplaced perpendicularly to the direction of' their axis of rotationthe shaft 28 will be rotated at an increasing rate while the frictionwheels run automatically without slipping or sliding towards the centeror the edge of the disk, as the case may be. The rate of change of rateof rotation of the shaft 23 is the greater the greater the perpendiculardisplacement. be stated that the acceleration of the shaft is a functionof the normal displacement.

Reversing the process it may now be assumed that the shaft 39, id, 20 bedriven at an unknown rate and acceleration which are desired to bedetermined or analysed. This may easily be accomplished due to the factthat the friction wheels in case they are freely movable on the discwill automatically assume a position on the disk which corresponds tothe present rate and rate of change of rate of the rotary motion of theshafts. The magnitude of the respective velocity and acceleration may bedetermined by measuring the respective displacements by suitable meansas will also be hereinafter described.

It is further possible to modify the motion of the shaft 2i],respectively'the displacement values of the friction wheels by impartingto the disk It) In the position shown in Fig. 1 the speed It maytherefore a non-uniform speed, e. g. by driving it by a. variable speedmotor.

Indicating means may be provided for indicating the axial andperpendicular displacements of the friction wheels. Such means are shownin Fig. 1 as being a bar 5| movable with the inner frame 2|. The axialdisplacement representing the velocity value may be read at a scale 52on the track bar 21 and associated with the left edge of the bar 5|.

The bar 5| is guided in an arm 53 of a guide block 54, slidable on astationary bar '55, thereby carrying the guide block and the inner framewith it. Upon perpendicular displacement of the friction wheels and theinner frame the bar 5| will move relatively to the arm 53. A scale 56 onthe bar 5| and associated with a pointer or reading mark on the arm willtherefore permit reading of the perpendicular displacement representingthe acceleration value.

The velocity and acceleration values may be used for computing thedistance of travel in a certain time of a certain object the movement ofwhich is analysed in the friction gear. For this purpose any suitablecomputing device may be used. A particularly simple form is shown inFig. 1.

On the guide block there is pivotally mounted at 51 a crank shaped leverhaving two arms 58 and 59. A pin 69 on the bar 51 engages a slot Bi soof the one arm 58' of the lever, while the other..,,..' arm 59 isequipped with a pointer, shown as being gear. are shown asa single wheel6,"! rotating with the shaft 39'.

,wheel. The friction wheel, having a rotary motion proportional to thatof the object will naturally be displaced the greater a distance fromthe zero line, indicated as dash-dot lines in Fig. 4,, the slower thedisk revolves, i. e. the greater the .time of motion t of the object,thereby increasging the deflect-ion of, the distance indicating mem-"the Zero line, appears again as displacement of her 62.

The at value, the distance of the bar 5! from the pivot point E alongthe bar and as distance 0-13 on the scale 63.

The

value is obtained as follows. It appearsthat the "triangles ABC and DECare similar triangles,

a wire 62 moving over a scale 63 on-ascale bar 64. The scale bar 64 isvertically adjustable onthe elongations of the track bars 33 and 34protruding from a casing 65 in which the gear may be inolosed. A furtherscale 56 is provided for setting the postiion of the scale bar 64. Tl escale 63 is graduated in terms of distance while the scale 66 isgraduated in terms of time.

For understanding the operation of the gear and computing mechanism itis well to remember that the distance s of an object moving at a rate '0with an acceleration a for a time t may be expressed as A motionproportional to the motion of the object may be derived from the motionof a sighting device aimed at the object and may be introduced into thefriction gear by the shaft 39. The friction wheels will accordingly, ashereinbefore explained, assume a position on the disk indicative of themomentary velocity and acceleration of the movement. Assuming thedistance of travel of the object has to be determined during a definitetime t, the scale bar 64 is set according to the value readable on thescale 66 before shaft 39 begins to rotate and the disk l0 rotated at arate of revolutions per time unit. The desired distance value will thenappear directly to be read on the scale 63 indicated by the pointer 62.

The operation of the mechanism will be readily understood by havingreference to the diagrammatic Figure 4. Primed reference numerals areapplied to this figure in which for reasons of slinplicity the twofriction wheels and differential being right angled at B and E andhavingequal angles ACE and DOE. It appears therefrom, the -.side.A-Bbeing equal to at, that the side DE isequal to the bar 66 beingdisplaced by relatively to the scale 58'. The latter scale mayconveniently be graduated to read values. The total distance covered bythe object travelling at a velocity of v and an acceleration of a for atime t appears therefore as the distance O-D readable on the scale 63'.

An automatic device may be provided for controlling the speed of thedisk in inverse proportion to the time set at the scale 65. For thispurpose there is shown in the drawings a variable resistance 88 having asliding contact 89 operated by the scale bar (it. The resistance lies inseries with the field of a shuntwound motor "it! connected to drive thedisk. By setting greater time values by raising the bar Ed, the field ofthe motor is strengthened and the speed of the motor accordinglydecreased.

It is a disadvantage with friction gears having only one friction wheelthat for positions of the friction wheel very close to the center of thedisk, the wheel has the tendency of slipping, thereby introducing anuncontrollable error, especially disadvantageous, if the device is usedfor computing purposes.

To overcome this disadvantage two friction wheels are provided whichconstitute a differential drive. For even very slight displacements ofthe inner frame 2! from the zero position, in which the friction wheelsare equidistant from the center of the disk, there will be no slippingof the wheels and correspondingly a correct position is obtained.

I" I hwy For large displacements which occasionally occur there is thedisadvantage that one friction Wheel may get so close to the center thatan uncontrollable error is introduced. To overcome this disadvantage astationary center part 'H shown as secured to the table l2 by meansof 1a bracket 12 (Fig. 2) is provided.

A constant and determinable error will arise, when a friction wheel ismoved onto the center part. This error, however, may easily becompensate'd for by a corresponding alteration of the respective sectionof the scale graduation.

Obviously, the present invention is not restricted to the particularembodiments herein shown and described. Moreover, it is notindispensable that all the features of this invention be usedconjointly, since they may be employed advantageously in variouscombinations and subcombinations.

What is claimed is:

l. The combination of a disk mounted for rotation about an axis, afriction wheel adapted to be rotated proportionally to a motion to beanalyzed; means for mounting said friction wheel for rotation infrictional engagement with the surface of said disk, for displacement ina direction parallel to the wheels axis of rotation, and fordisplacement in a direction perpendicular thereto; means connected torotate said disk; a pointer; a support pivotally supporting saidpointer; means for mounting said support for movement in a directionparallel to the friction wheels axis of rotation; means for deflectingsaid pointer in response to the perpendicular displacements of saidwheel; means for displacing said pointer support in response to axialdisplacements of said wheel; and scale means associated with saidpointer. I

2. The combination of a disk mounted for rotation about an axis; afriction wheel adapted to be rotated proportionally to a motion to beanalyzed; means for mounting said friction wheel for rotation infrictional engagement With the surface of said disk, for displacement ina direction parallel to the wheels axis of rotation, and fordisplacement in a direction perpendicular thereto; means for rotatingsaid disk at a rate which is inversely proportional to a given time; apointer; a support pivotally supporting said pointer; means for mountingsaid support for movement in a direction parallel to the friction wheelsaxis of rotation; means for deflecting said pointer in response to theperpendicular dis placements of said wheel; means for displacing saidpointer support in response to axial displacements of said wheel; scalemeans associated with said pointer; and means for mounting said scalefor displacement parallel to itself.

3. The combination of a disk mounted for wheels axis of rotation; meansfor deflecting said pointer in response to the perpendiculardisplacements of said wheel; means for displacing said pointer supportin response to axial displacements of said Wheel; scale means associatedwith said pointer; means for mounting said scale for displacementparallel to itself; and means for controlling the rate of said primemover in response to the parallel displacements of said scale.

' GUSTAV NEUHAUS.

